Pages

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Jerry Pinkney Exhibition and PiBoIdMo

I had the thrill of spending over an hour with the legendary Jerry Pinkney and a group of visitors at the Hudson River Museum. Jerry gave us a tour of his current exhibition, highlighting 50 years worth of illustrations. I suppose he is most known for the Lion and the Mouse, which won the Caldecott Medal in 2009. However, my favorite of his books are: The Old African, Sweethearts of Rhythm and Sam and the Tigers. Which of his books are your favorites? Reply in the comments section.

Here we are, while he signs a book for me (excuse the blurriness of the shot, the paparazzi were going frantic.)

I was intrigued by what Jerry said about his early youth. Although he never knew it until much later in his life, his fascination with the printed page "fueled a need to fill the masses." He also talked about what keeps a project fresh- setting up obstacles in the actual approach of a painting and identifying the illustrating challenge for yourself as you execute the story.

Go see the show! Well worth the trip . . . and the rest of the museum is lots of fun. There's a planetarium, an over sized street art exhibition, etc... A special thank you to the curator, who showed us the historic manor!

And, while on I'm on the topic of picture books, I would like to formally announce my participation in this year's PiBoIdMo. PiBoIdMo? If you are wondering if I've made this up, no, here's the creed (from Tara Lazar's Blog):

I do solemnly swearthat I will faithfully executethe PiBoIdMo 30-ideas-in-30-days challenge,and will, to the best of my ability,parlay my ideas intopicture book manuscriptsthroughout the year.